The present disclosure relates to carbon nanotube devices and, in particular, to methods of fabricating a carbon nanotube transistor from a thin-film of nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are carbon allotropes that form a cylindrical structure. Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) conduct exceptionally high currents with respect to their nanoscale diameter (e.g., 1-2 nanometers). Among their many uses, CNTs have been integrated into thin-film transistors (TFTs) which use CNTs to form gates of the transistor. The CNTs in these TFTs are generally not straight linear cylinders but rather have various bends and curves. Thus, when assembling a plurality of CNTs, the ends of the CNTs are generally not neatly aligned. This lack of alignment of the CNT ends introduces problems when attempting to electrically couple the CNTs to the various electrical contacts of the TFT. Consequently, there is generally a high contact resistance at interfaces between CNT and contacts in thin-film devices.